Teachers' Changing Talk About Alternative Algorithms in a Professional Learning Community: The Role of Challenge

• In Event: 65.079 - Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: 65.079-11 - Teacher Engagement, Practices, and Knowledge in Mathematics and Science

Abstract

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are often considered ideal for promoting teacher change, yet it is not always realized. One type of interaction that promotes change is that of challenging one another’s ideas. This paper reports an investigation into a case in which teachers in a PLC began to talk in new ways about one important idea in the professional development—students’ use of invented algorithms for computation. The paper traces the challenges that occurred around invented algorithms as well as other representations and solution methods for computation problems. The nature of the challenges are described, as well as the group dynamics which comprise the context in which the challenges occurred. Implications for further study and facilitation of PLCs are discussed.

Author

• Joy Ann Oslund, University of Michigan